The Legacy lost 4-1 at Angel City on Sunday, bringing their 2026 season to a close.

The Legacy close out their historic inaugural season with a final record of 9-15-6.

SAN DIEGO (Oct. 25, 2026) – San Diego Wave FC (17-8-4, 55 points) played to a 2-2 draw against Boston Legacy FC (9-14-6, 33 points) on Sunday afternoon at Snapdragon Stadium. Gia Corley scored her fourth goal of the season, while a Boston own goal gave San Diego a second-half lead before the visitors found a late equalizer.

In Boston Legacy FC's match against the Portland Thorns on October 3, goalkeeper Casey Murphy suffered a partial tear of her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in her right knee.

Summary:

Overall Notes

This game encapsulated the NWSL After Dark memes and was full of chaos. I feel like the two Legacy-Thorns matches this year have warped my expectations. Going forward, I think the expectation should be that it is a close game, but extremely high scoring. I don't think these teams are going to be playing to a 0-0 draw anytime soon.

Bright Spots

Our offensive press high up the field remains effective. Additionally, seeing Araujo and Kaka get some time on the field gave me some confidence that things are looking up for Boston in the back. We were far from perfect in this game, but we looked better than some of our recent performances and Araujo especially managed to help spring Boston from Portland's press pretty effectively at times. Maybe we could just use some more depth here rather than a complete overhaul.

Room for Improvement

Finishing, finishing, finishing... You know it's bad when the commentators are practically begging for Aissata to come off and for Guti to come on. Aissata missed a handful of really good chances this match, and in close games, could easily have been the deciding factor. I don't mean to single her out either, there were other chances that strayed way off target despite not being under pressure from Portland defense at the time. BSG at one point decided to even do some goal line defending for Portland by heading away a shot by Boston. We had lots of great touches, dribbles, passes, and crosses into the box...but, despite coming away with four goals in the game, it really felt like we should have had more from that.

Game Notes

• Kickoff - Araujo is back on the field after a long injury break, so it will be interesting to see how she fits in and maybe helps shore up the defense.
• 5' - Araujo does a good job dealing with Portland pressure...something that Boston central defenders have consistently struggled with. Promising start on the possession side of the ball from her.
• 6' - Boston defense is beat on a break...big surprise. Our pace in the back is definitely a weakness.
• 11' - Some clock gamesmanship from the Portland keeper. Perhaps the start of the After Dark-ness of this game
• 13' - BSG has been wide open several times now for this long switch to her down the right. I like the fact that Boston hasn't felt constrained to only play the short passes so far this game, and can release with a long cross like this.
• 21' - Boston has done a decent job at pressing up the field and winning back possession. This stretch of play ultimately leads to a long shot by Karich in the 22nd minute that doesn't miss by much.
• 23' - It's hard to tell whether the hair pull was intentional or not because there wasn't a clear view of it from the cameras, but it happened directly in front of the ref and he was on it immediately.
• 27' - Olivieri picks up a yellow for talking back to the ref. I understand the frustration, but it's a silly yellow to give away for a midfielder where she now loses the ability for a tactical foul later.
• 28' - Great volley by Schupansky. It's a shame it wasn't on target, that would have been a beautiful goal.
• 33' - A great opportunity for Aissata...but her finishing lets her down after a great touch
• 35' - Beautiful assist by Karich to Caño for the opening goal. Karich has tried this assist a couple times in the past few games, but it hasn't connected cleanly. This one was just perfectly placed just like Xavi did for years at Barca.
• 39' - The goal by Schupansky is one of the silliest goals I have seen in some time - deflecting multiple times (defender -> post -> keeper) before finding the net. That is going to be a memorable one for her first goal for the Legacy.
• 41' - More trouble for Aissata with finishing a great chance 1-1 with the keeper.
• 45+2' - Boston is struggling to build out of their defensive third and end up giving the ball away. It doesn't amount to much, but it is concerning that we are struggling when playing up a player to build possession like this.
• HT - Overall, in the first half, Boston's press has been quite effective at keeping Portland pinned in their defensive third most of the game, especially after the red card. Boston still looks susceptible to fast breaks and defensive mistakes though.
• 50' - A Boston defensive turnover fittingly leads to Murphy's 500th career save. Boston has started this half a bit slow and uninspired.
• 54' - BSG forgets which box she should be defending and clears a shot by Boston over the bar. Oops...
• 57' - Murphy gives away a PK on being late to a challenge. I have seen some other forums be quite unhappy with Murphy in the Keeper position, but I don't think she has been too bad for us. Ultimately, this PK attempt was a rather poor save attempt, but Boston has higher priority problems than Murphy in goal.
• 60' - Araujo comes off for Kaka...the first game back for both of these players after very long stints out due to injury. Araujo overall did well, so we will see how Kaka handles stepping into a decidedly chippy match.
• 64' - Portland is extremely lucky they didn't end up with a second red card with that high boot. They were probably a literal inch or so away.
• 68' - A chaotic set of breaks up and down the field, but Portland comes out with a dangerous cross that doesn't find somebody on the end of it.
• 69' - A great cross results in a really off-target header. Unfortunate finishing for Boston when they had such a clean header.
• 73' - Another clean shot by Boston is off target, this time by Stevens.
• 75' - Really great save by Murphy on the Portland counter. Portland has been a lot more dangerous in the second half compared to the first season after the red card.
• 76' - My God...Aissata missing these amazing chances is going to be the death of me. We have lots of talent at giving her (and our other strikers) great balls, but she (and everybody else) consistently struggles at getting them on target.
• 88' - Guti scores again on a keeper that is way too far off her line. The play has been really open and box to box for a little while now, and it caught the Portland keeper off her line when she couldn't transition to defense fast enough.
• 90' - Good finishing by Portland to score one back. If only Boston could shoot on target that well...
• 93' - Excellent cross by BSG to find Guti on the back post. Loved the cheeky Ronaldo celebration as well.
• FT - A win is a win and this one might not have been pretty, but Boston managed to play it out cleanly after Guti's brace.

Defeating 2 of the top 3 teams these past two weeks is perhaps a glimpse into Boston's future potential. Hopefully Patão uses the end of this season to keep experimenting and finding out what works for this team.

The Legacy is 10 points from last place and 11 from playoff contention, though there are still several teams with a game in hand. Have these last two wins inspired confidence or will the team get in its own way again?

From The Blazing Musket:

Traoré is among the three forwards named to the team, which is selected by the NWSL Media Association. The league newcomer joins the ranks of NWSL veterans Sophia Wilson and Ashley Sanchez.

Much like the rest of the team, Traoré has shown a vast improvement in her quality of play. The 29-year-old recorded three goals in the first half of the season as the expansion side adjusted to the competitive league. Traoré has scored seven goals since the June break and has cemented herself as one of the team’s most pivotal players.

With four games left in the schedule, Boston remains a tough team to go up against. While the postseason is off the table for them, they could provide some massive upsets in these final weeks — they have games against Portland Thorns, San Diego Wave and Angel City to come — and they could prove to be a spoiler in the tightly contested league table.

Overall Takeaway

Boston's attack tonight was very anemic. On the other hand, Seattle was extremely efficient on the counter and beating Boston's defense with pace to make the possession chances they had really count. Despite ending with 41% possession, Seattle had 65% of the shots in the game (71% of the shots on target).

Bright Spots

Boston's press was overall pretty good I think. We were winning balls up the field and able to keep the ball in the attacking third for long stretches. Seattle found both their goals off quick transitions largely due to their difficulties with building up the play through Boston's press.

Room for Improvement

Two main things that I think Boston really needs to figure out for next season.

1. Dangerous possession - I feel like a broken record saying this, but Boston needs to convert possession into goal scoring opportunities. We have lots of great passers and runners on the field, but lack good finishers. Aissata is our lead scorer for the season, but I feel like that is just as much off of her endless hustle more than it is her clinical finishing. If Guti isn't able to step into this role like was expected, then Boston might need to look outside for an infusion of goalscoring threats.
2. Transitions after a turnover - Sometimes you will lose the ball on an errant pass...it's inevitable. I feel like Boston has improved at reducing the frequency with which this has happened somewhat. However, Boston majorly struggled with what comes after a turnover. Too many players are getting caught up the field without the pace to track back and cover. Also, there were a couple incidents of doubling an attacker on the wing while leaving a central attacker completely unmarked. There is a lot of room for improvement on how to better transition from an attack to defense to help break up and delay fast breaks against us.

Game Notes

• 2' - A great chance gotten off the press gone to waste from a bad touch by Smith. Hope this isn't a sign of more wasteful possession to come.
• 9' - Great cutback by Smith that found Olivieri. Ended up with a pair of uncharacteristically poor corners by Schupansky.
• 14' - Boston defense has been a bit shaky in possession to start. This turnover resulted in a Murphy save.
• 18' - Yellow to Davis gives a Seattle a dangerous set piece. A couple times already Seattle has tried to beat the Boston defense with pace down the left side, a weakness Boston has had in recent games.
• 23' - Seattle goal after a bad pass by Boston is intercepted. A very typical giveaway/concession by Boston of late.
• 33' - Another dispossession inside the Seattle box that ends up without even a shot.
• 43' - Another quick transition by Seattle down Boston's left sees Seattle get off a great cross and header, resulting in a foot save by Murphy. The left of Boston's defense has been a bit of a weak spot recently, and Seattle has been exploiting it well.
• 45+1' - More long balls to space down Seattle's right, this time resulting in a corner. I expect some changes for the second half to help deal with this by Boston.
• HT - Boston might have had more possession in the first half (59-41), however Seattle has looked much more threatening with the possession they have had. We still struggle to convert possession into threatening attacks while simultaneously letting opponents capitalize on defensive mistakes.
• 46' - The second half starts off with an almost immediate turnover off a Boston pass that results in a dangerous Seattle shot...not inspiring confidence.
• 48' - A Karich shot from distance...don't see those too often...probably something else that could have been done instead.
• 56' - Reale coming on for Davis...should hopefully help cover some of Boston's weakness on their left side. Reale normally plays along that side in an almost wingback position and has a bit of pace.
• 59' - Quick transition up the field by Boston results in a shot by Aissata. I want to see Boston transition rapidly out of their defensive third like this more. We seem to have had more success at pressing Seattle and winning balls upfield compared to building out of our own defensive third.
• 61' - Surprised Olivieri hasn't been booked yet. She has been very physical tonight including this very obvious foul.
• 64' - Another errant pass by Boston results in a quick Seattle transition down the flank and a Fishlock goal. Boston can have all the possession they want, but if you concede goals that quickly, it isn't going to help.
• 72' - Boston continue to struggle to build out of their defensive third as Seattle wins possession resulting in a shot off the bar.
• 74' - Good offensive buildup by Boston results in a bad pass out for a goal kick. Boston continues to struggle in converting possession into credible attacks.
• 86' - Great attempt to cross the ball into Stevens. Boston has done better at keeping the ball for a bit of a stretch here, but it has been helped by some defensive-minded subs by Seattle, and some fresh legs up front for Boston.
• 91' - Short corner for Boston ends up with poor service in. I just checked and Boston have maintained the possession advantage through this game (59-41), but is trailing on shots 15-8. Really tells the tale of how little all Boston's possession has amounted to. This story continues as we reach full time.

Overall observations

Boston actually played pretty well overall. We controlled the flow of the game and was able to press Houston effectively and win balls up the field. Our midfield really disrupted attempts by Houston to work the ball up the field. A good sign that we disrupted Houston's flow of play is that two goals we gave up came off a mishandled set piece after a defensive turnover, and a long cross over the top. Credit to Houston for their substitutions. Their press and attack looked much more effective with the change in personnel.

Bright spots:

Boston's attack looked much more threatening than in many games past. Schupansky in particular put the ball in lots of dangerous places and was Boston's player of the match for me. I also think Hernandez and Olivieri were playing well on the attack down the left side and rotated well. Defensively, we still had some sloppy turnovers, one of which resulted in a goal, but I think we are showing improvement here. Boston showed a bit more willingness to play quick on the transition to attack, and it helped keep Houston on their toes when we were less predictable in this way.

Room for improvement:

Converting the aforementioned attacking play and possession into goals. We had loads of possession in the final third, some beautiful crosses, and lots of touches in the opposing box, but few of those opportunities resulted in a threatening shot on target. Too many chances were broken up with a bad touch, poor decision, or a shot straight to the keeper. Houston also had some great last-chance defending, but with so much possession in dangerous areas, it feels wasteful to only come away with a single goal.

Minute by Minute

• 5' - Good cross by Schupansky to get an attempt on goal. This is one of the things that she has given Boston since joining; accurate crossing and set pieces. She's been a great pickup.
• 8' - Threatening pass over the top and shot by Houston. Getting beaten by pace is something that our back line has struggled with at times (more on the left than BSG's right). Also, we did very poor at covering the box, letting a clean shot off.
• 11' - Great corner by Schupansky that ended up with a pair of goal line saves by Houston defenders. Schupansky has had a great start to this game.
• 14' - Good attack on the transition by Boston, unfortunately fizzles out after a poor touch by Aissata. So far, Boston has seen some success with a quick transition like this.
• 18' - Great dribble by Hernandez to get the ball in a dangerous area. Both her and Reale have done well on the attack from that left defender position.
• 24' - A bit of a sloppy dribble by Aissata results in a yellow and end of a threatening attack. Aissata has had a couple poor touches so far this game, perhaps an impact of the wet conditions and the turf field.
• 26' - Great press by Olivieri gets the ball in the opposing box. Good job by Houston defense to block the cross for a corner. That makes three times now that the Houston keeper was beaten, but the defenders saved a goal.
• 28' - More great service by Schupansky, and more great last-stand defense by Houston.
• 33' - Commentator just said Boston has >60% possession so far, and it feels like it. Long stretches of the game to this point have seen Houston absolutely pinned in their defensive third.
• 36' - Great cross by Olivieri to Schupansky that resulted in some more great play by Houston defenders. Boston has done great down the right hand side so far.
• 43' - A very bad pass from Boston defense results in a Houston corner and ultimately the Houston goal. Another self-inflicted wound in a game where we have done a great job getting up the field otherwise.
• HT - Overall good first half for Boston, but two things stay consistent for us: we struggle to finish and are prone to bad giveaways in the back. These two things combined to give Houston a 1-0 lead at the half despite Boston being the clearly better side during most of the run of play.
• 47' - A great ball to break Prince free, but she eschews the open cutback to instead play it into the side netting. More struggles with finishing for Boston.
• 54' - More great play by Schupansky to get off a dangerous cross. She has been the best player on Boston's side so far for me.
• 56' - Unfortunate bad touch by Karich kills the attack. She is a player that is so critical to Boston's style of play, especially defensively, but does seem to be a bit uncomfortable when she finds herself with the ball in such a forward position.
• 59' - Great cross by Hernandez results in an Aissata goal. This second half has seen Hernandez and Olivieri rotating between left wing and left back. Between the two of them and Reale, we are lousy with good left wingers, if only we had more consistent finishers.
• 62' - Good save by the Houston keeper to keep the deflected ball out of the net. Cano has been relatively quiet so far this game, but it was a good bit of skill to get that shot off.
• 66' - Guti wins the ball up the field, but ultimately our poor finishing continues as Schupansky sails it over the bar.
• 70' - Another excellent cross by Hernandez results in a clean shot by Guti, but just straight to the Houston keeper. Such a great opportunity that you hate to see end up in the keeper's hands.
• 77' - Boston struggling to get out of their final third for a couple minutes now. Houston's subs have helped transform their press to be much more effective.
• 80' - Another shot straight to the Houston keeper, this time by Olivieri. Boston has managed to get off lots of shots, but few have been too dangerous.
• 85' - Great cross by Houston results in a goal off the head of Bright, one of the subs that helped make Houston look a lot more threatening since coming on. I would like to see Murphy more emphatically clear that ball either to the side or over the bar after getting both hands solidly on it.
• 90' - Threatening shot from distance by Olivieri. She has had a couple takes from range like this that have been pretty close.
• 95' - Karich finds herself as the central defender on a Houston break and handles it poorly. This more or less brings the game to a close.

• Attendance: 9,739

I finally got a chance to actually watch the game instead of a highlight video and thought I would take the chance to record some thoughts. I am not going to commit to being able to do this for every game, but will try to do it when I can.

Overall thoughts

Aissata was superb in this game, putting in a player of the match performance for me. She seemed to have more freedom to move around the field and find spaces where she could. Sometimes it was on the wing, sometimes dropping a bit deeper centrally, and other times it was balls played over the top. The Spirit struggled to figure out how to handle Aissata the whole match. With better finishing, then she had the potential to put multiple goals in the net this game.

Boston did a great job choking out the whole middle of the field. The Spirit were never really able to work the ball up the field. Instead, they looked most threatening when they played it long from the back all the way up to the front while bypassing the whole midfield. This was especially true in the second half where the Spirit seemed like they just lost a step after halftime.

Some bright spots:

• Offensively, we were making some great runs, but also holding up play a lot better. Too often in the past we would have a great run into space, but then cross into an empty box as the rest of the team never got a chance to catch up to the play.
• Our press was really effective. The whole team has bought into this system and we were winning plenty of balls high up the field as a result. When we do this effectively, it also has the added benefit of keeping the ball out of our most accident-prone region of the field: our defensive third.
• The formation flexibility of our attacking players kept Washington on the back foot for most of this match. Players rotated a lot during transition and were able to play it up the wing or through the middle effectively.
• Defensively, we were pretty solid, even when dealing with pace-y players that have proven problematic for us in the past. BSG really had a standout performance, and even managed to make some threatening plays in the offensive third.

Some areas for improvement for Boston going forward:

• Still too many bad giveaways by our back line, either through bad touches or bad passes. Things are improving, but to be contending further up the table over the course of a whole season, still lots of room for improvement here.
• As a huge Karich fan, she seemed to have some uncharacteristic bad passes today. She has to be one of the players with the most minutes played for the Legacy; perhaps she just needs a break. Otherwise, she was still excellent defensively, helping shut down passing lanes through the midfield and covering for defenders that stepped out wide.
• Despite the 3-0 scoreline, our finishing could be better. We had some great opportunities that, if our finishing was a bit more clinical, could have been put away.

Timeline of observations

• 8' - good holdup play by Aissata - something that she has struggled with so far. An improvement here would be tremendously helpful to the team as they transition from defense to offense. Hope to see more of this from her going forward. Unfortunately for her it amounted to...
• 8' - bad giveaway by Carabali (one of several by our defense through this game) - pretty indicative of the recent problems we have had with giveaways from our defense being unable to link up with the midfield. Fortunately doesn't amount to anything in this case
• 20' - rough collision with Rodman - that's one way to shut down Trinity Rodman, just take her to ground. BSG had been doing a decent job, but got caught up the field on the quick transition.
• 23' - more great hold up play by Aissata, really impressed with her performance so far
• 25' - we seem to have transitioned to pressing further up the field and it is paying off, leading to a spell of keeping the Spirit trapped in their defensive third
• 27' - Schupansky has been such a key pickup on set pieces. Her delivery is a step change improvement for the team
• 29' - Karich turnover - Karich has had some uncharacteristic giveaways so far including this one. She is usually super impressive in how she can evade pressure and still get a good pass out
• 31' - Murphy catch - this is the kind of ball that Ivory struggled with in the previous game, but the clean catch led to a clean transition up the field and a dangerous chance from BSG...
• 32' - BSG somehow managed to miss this from like 1 yard out in front of an almost open net...somehow...
• 43' - More great Aissata play - drawing a foul/card and holding onto the ball the whole time. She seems to have settled into a floating CAM that can sometimes make runs in behind, rotate with Olivieri, or run out wide to space. It's working out really well this game.
• 45' - Olivieri has been playing higher up the pitch than in the past and been doing really good at it. This time almost catching the keeper out and earning a corner.
• HT - If you do nothing else, make sure to watch the replay on NWSL+ to check out the halftime performance. A remarkable display of skill with the goodest of good dogs! They show it before they cut away for highlights around the league, and a some more after the highlights are over.
• 51' - Great shot on target by Olivieri and a good save. Overall, our offense looks much more threatening than it did during August.
• 57' - Awful turnover by Murphy playing out of goal...we got lucky that the Spirit couldn't convert
• 59' - Great step by BSG - She has been excellent so far this game. Has to be one of the best 1v1 defenders in the league. BSG shut down Trinity so well in the first half that Trinity changed sides of the field for the second half.
• 63' - Great drive and shot by Aissata...she continues to excel by finding a bit of space just behind the lead striker
• 69' - Good intervention by VAR...no way that should be a PK...
• 74' - Another good chance by Aissata. It's these kinds of chances that have been so frastrating to watch. She is a great player, but her finishing can often be found wanting
• 80' - BSG continues to have a great game, this time offensively as she makes a great run and gets off a great cross
• 81' - A well deserved goal by Aissata. She makes a great run, wins it back defensively, and then puts it away with a nutmeg. It wasn't the prettiest goal, but she has fought tooth and nail every minute of this game and has earned it.
• 86' - A horrendous turnover by Davis on defense fortunately doesn't lead anywhere for the Spirit. We need to make fewer of these kinds of turnovers if we expect to make a more convincing run for the playoffs next season.
• 89' - Most threatening moment from Trinity all game, but it ends up just going straight to Murphy
• 94' - Guti putting a lot of curl on that shot. It's not as easy as it looks. Great awareness to keep playing until the whistle when the Spirit had kind of paused, expecting a whistle after a clear hand ball that the ref ended up playing advantage
• 96' - Great drive and cross by Reale. I would love to see her play a winger for us. She is great at coming up the field from the back.